really liked her, but Julian did, and we’d learn to deal.
My mom tapped me to carry food out to the table, and then we were all seated, loading our plates with the roasted chicken and vegetables, fruit salad, and creamed corn. My mom was an excellent cook, and we all dug in. The pie still needed to cool, but I had every intention of devouring it after eating.
“So, Annie, tell us about medical school,” my mom said. “How does that all work?”
“Well, I’m in an emergency medicine rotation, where I work at the hospital with a doctor on staff. I want to be an ER doctor. So, I’ve been interviewing for residency programs. ER residency is three years, and then I go full-time.”
“And where are you going for residency?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet. We have to submit our top choices soon. We find out where we’re going on Match Day at the end of next month.”
“Exciting!” my mom said.
“Why would you want to be an ER doctor?” Ashleigh asked. “There’s, like, dermatology and plastic surgery and shit.”
“We need ER doctors, Ash,” Julian jumped in.
“Yeah, but…still.”
“Well, I watched someone I care about die, and if there’s another emergency, I want to be able to help. So, I chose to work in the ER.”
“I think it’s admirable,” my mom said.
I squeezed Annie’s hand under the table. “She’s great at it, too.”
“Sounds terrible,” Ashleigh blurted, looking down at her phone again.
My mom clenched her jaw. “Why don’t we do pie?”
She stumbled as she entered the kitchen again, nearly falling. Julian jumped to his feet and was at her side almost instantly. She laughed, waving him away.
“I’m fine. Just tripped.”
I frowned. My mom had never been clumsy. What was that all about?
Julian followed her into the kitchen anyway and served up a blackberry pie that was maybe the best thing I’d ever eaten.
“You are going to have to give me this recipe,” Annie said. “It’s incredible. I’ll probably butcher it, but I could try.”
“I’ll make you a card,” my mom said with a wide smile. She loved to hand out recipes. She had an enormous book of them.
“I might have to make Sutton help me, so I don’t screw it up.”
“Oh, I love her little bakery downtown, Death by Chocolate. The chocolate-mousse cups are my favorite,” my mom said with relish.
“It’s okay,” Ashleigh said. “I mean, I like that other place better. What’s it called? In Cactus Alley.”
Julian shrugged, trying and failing to rein in his girlfriend. “I don’t know. I like Death by Chocolate.”
“I guess.” Ashleigh still looked at her phone.
What the hell was wrong with her?
Annie tried to engage her in conversation, but Ashleigh was on a full rampage today. She clearly didn’t want to be here. I didn’t even know why she’d bothered to come if she was going to act like this.
The rest of the evening was awkward, and Julian eventually said that he was going to get Ashleigh home. She jumped up like her ass was lit on fire.
“We should probably go, too,” I said. “Annie is still adjusting to the time difference.”
She looked up sheepishly . “But we’ll have to do this again. I loved it so much.”
“Anytime, dear. Anytime. Jordan, do you think you could stay behind for a minute with Julian?”
“Sure,” I said with furrowed brows. I passed Annie the keys. “Want to get it started?”
“Of course,” she said before heading out.
“What’s going on?”
My mom didn’t beat around the bush. She looked at me and my brother and sighed. “It’s back.”
Julian stiffened.
I stared in horror. “What is?”
But I knew.
I knew before the words left her mouth.
“The cancer.”
My vision went blurry. Everything turned to static. Julian hugged her, promised to be there for her. She told us the diagnosis. The chances of success for another time were low. But she was a fighter. She was going to fight.
“I love you, Mom,” I told her, hugging her.
She choked up. “I love you, too.”
Then I left. Because I couldn’t stay there for another minute. I couldn’t even breathe.
I dropped into the passenger seat and sat facing forward like a ghost. Completely drained of all thought.
“Jordan?” Annie whispered softly. “Is everything all right?”
“Her cancer is back.”
She gasped, “Oh, Jordan. I’m…I’m so sorry.”
Her hands wrapped around me. I should have felt something. Should have broken down like Julian had as he cried on my mom’s shoulder. But I felt nothing. Just numbness.
I didn’t know if she’d make it this time. And I’d moved to Lubbock last time to be here